Six years on from the first Covid lockdown UK house prices are still sitting above the peak reached during the pandemic boom.
Research from Yopa shows the average UK property value remains higher than the levels recorded at the height of the post-lockdown surge, even after interest rate rises, affordability pressures and slower transaction levels cooled demand.
The data compares average house prices in January 2020 before Covid reached the UK, September 2022 when the pandemic-era boom peaked and the latest available figures for December 2025.
It found that prices jumped sharply during the pandemic, rising by 26.5% between early 2020 and the market peak in September 2022, before easing through 2023 and 2024 as borrowing costs increased.
THE PRICE IS RIGHT
Despite that slowdown, the average UK house price now stands at £270,259 – still 1.7% higher than the previous peak of £265,727 recorded during the boom.
Across the UK, prices remain above their pandemic high in most parts of the country. England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are all currently recording average values above the levels seen at the height of the market, with Northern Ireland showing the strongest growth.
At regional level, the East Midlands, North East, North West, West Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber are all above their pandemic peaks, while London, the South East, South West and East of England remain below.
The research also found that 233 of the 360 local authority areas analysed – almost two thirds of the UK – still have average house prices above their Covid-era highs.
DOOM AND GLOOM
Verona Frankish (main picgture), Chief Executive Officer at Yopa, says: “There’s been a lot of doom and gloom surrounding the property market of late, however, it wasn’t that long ago that the headlines were focused on the pandemic property market boom and just how quickly house prices were climbing, fuelled by the stamp duty holiday.
“We did see house prices cool as this stamp duty incentive was gradually phased out, but what’s notable is that prices across the majority of the UK have since stabilised and, in many cases, crept back above the levels seen at the height of the boom.
“That really puts the current market into perspective as, whilst market sentiment may not be as buoyant as it was during the pandemic, many homeowners are still sitting on values that exceed even the unprecedented surge seen during Covid.”
